IARA: From the Vault Blog

What Is Archives Month and Why Should I Care?

The ISTA Register provides names and professional information for thousands of ISTA members,1871 to 1895. Sources from this period of Indiana education are uncommon and provide glimpses into the lives of schoolteachers, many of them women, during a time of change.

Ask An Archivist Day 2024

Every year during Archives Month, we participate in #AskAnArchivistDay, where archivists from around the country respond to question about their repositories on social media.

Electronic Records Day 2024

Electronic records are real records. It can be argued they are the future of the historical record. They represent a significantly growing area within archival practices, as archives must adapt to an increasingly digital landscape.

Scary Things in the Archives

Some archives claim to be haunted. Some archives probably are haunted. The Indiana State Archives is fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your view of things) not haunted.

[Indiana State Teachers Association Register]

The ISTA Register provides names and professional information for thousands of ISTA members,1871 to 1895. Sources from this period of Indiana education are uncommon and provide glimpses into the lives and activities of individual schoolteachers, many of them women, during a time of change

Volunteer Appreciation

April is National Volunteer Month. Many of you may not know it, but we at IARA have the privilege to work with some fantastic volunteers.

Historic Baby Names

Historic baby names are increasingly popular with parents. Sure, you could go with one of 2023’s most popular names like Charlotte, Evelyn, or Theodore. Or you could get inspiration from our collections!

Indiana Boys' School

The Indiana State Archives houses the records from the Indiana Boys’ School. These records may be of interest to genealogists researching formerly incarcerated boys.

Black Day of the IGA

While modern politics has its share of issues, few current events compare to the government breakdown and physical violence seen in Indianapolis on February 24, 1887.

The Dillinger Situation

While John Dillinger’s legend has endured for decades, many people may not realize that the entire “Dillinger Situation” took place over the course of barely more than a single year.

Escalator Investigations

A few stories that may leave you more mindful of your children, shoes, and pant legs the next time you step on an escalator.

1880 Census Mix-Up

Indiana State Archives conservator Elizabeth Hague was preparing a large, disbound volume of the 1880 Agricultural Census when she discovered that the pages for Deer Creek Township in Caroll County were actually pages from the 1880 Population Census.

Fun Barcoding Finds

Even with all the work we do and all the patrons we assist, there are some records that won’t be used by archivists, other staff, or patrons. So, we wanted to highlight some of the fun things our barcoding teams have ‘discovered’ during the last 3 years of barcoding.

Sensitive Topics in the Archives

Sensitive Topics in the ArchivesIn honor of Black History Month, the Archives has been working on digitizing and making available online a collection of registers known as the “Negroes and Mulattoes Registers."

Inheritance Tax Records

There are two types of tax records kept at the Indiana State Archives. Genealogists may be interested in the tax records as a source of information about relatives.

Spanish-American War Records

Though often overlooked, the Spanish-American War left behind valuable documentation. IARA holds a collection of Spanish-American War records that genealogists may find useful.

Crown Hill Cemetery

During the summer of 1863, civic leaders acted to resolve the need for a new cemetery in Indianapolis. Greenlawn Cemetery, an amalgamation of three cemeteries serving as the city cemetery, was at capacity.

The Indiana Pi Bill

In 1897, Dr. Goodwin believed that he had solved the ancient mathematical problem of “squaring the circle” and created a new and much simpler value for Pi – 3.2.

Barcoding

The largest, most important, and most time-intensive project we’re working on is adding new labels and barcodes to every box and volume in our holdings.

Stories from the Archives

Collections that concentrate on individual people can always be counted on to be intriguing. A particular favorite for most genealogists is the Foster Care Files 1892-1910.

Santa Claus vs Santa Claus

Likely holding the record for the number of times the name “Santa Claus” appears in the title of a legal case, the story of Santa Claus v. Santa Claus started in 1856.

Backlog

If you’ve been following the State Archives for a while, you know that we’ve been working on preparing our records to be moved into a new building in 2026.

Research Indiana Indexes: Archives Staff Q&A

For Ask an Archivist Day, we asked our staff some questions about our new Research Indiana Indexes site.

Working From Home: The WPA Card Catalog

The WPA Card Index lives in a large card catalog in the Archives’ stacks area. Our archivists use it for research, but with over 400,000 cards, it isn’t exactly browseable.

Essential Operations

Essential operations during the lockdown stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the types of records that were still urgently needed

The Kindig Mystery

Several WWI soldiers named Kindig enlisted around the same time from South Bend, Indiana. They also all seemed to be (originally) from Union City, Michigan. We decided to investigate and see if we could figure out the mystery!

White River Park State Games

The Indiana State Archives holds a collection on the White River Park State Games. The collection includes advertising materials, budget paperwork, press releases, and planning documents. This collection represents an interesting decade of amateur sports history in Indiana.